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Thursday, 22 January 2015

Review: Silent Echo by Elisa Freilich

Haunted by silence, a mute teenage girl
is mysteriously given back her voice ... and it is divine.

"Silent Echo is a gripping, original read,
with a heroine you won't forget. Katniss Everdeen-watch out for Portia
Griffin." -Erica Wagner, Author of Seizure

Rendered mute at birth, Portia Griffin has been
silent for 16 years. Music is her constant companion, along with Felix, her
deaf best friend who couldn't care less whether or not she can speak. If only
he were as nonchalant about her newfound interest in the musically gifted Max
Hunter.

But Portia's silence is about to be broken with
the abrupt discovery of her voice, unparalleled in its purity and the power it
affords to control those around her. Able to persuade, seduce and destroy using
only her voice, Portia embarks on a search for answers about who she really is,
and what she is destined to do.

Inspired by Homer's Odyssey, Silent Echo: A
Siren's Tale is an epic story filled with fantasy, romance and original music.

Review:

When I first read this book I was left speechless (which
doesn’t happen a lot) simply because it was such an emotional story and to have
the ending it had… just wow.

All the characters go through so much emotional turmoil
which as a reader you feel first-hand and it pulls on your heartstrings. Portia
particularly is such a strong character because while there were times her
courage slipped and she wanted the easy way out (as we all would) it takes a
special kind of strength to even admit that.

Her best friend Felix was also a very deep character who had
already gone through so much alongside Portia, so to see their relationship was
beautiful. The love triangle between Portia, Felix and a transfer called Max
didn’t feel at all forced and while it had many theatrical moments, I wasn’t
annoyed that it was there because it played just as much of a part in the story
as anything else.

Plot wise, I thought the mythology elements, old and new,
blended beautifully into the overall story. The story of the sirens didn’t
quite catch my eye like the other Greek myths, when I first heard of them, but reading it again in this book with the
added music was breath-taking.

I’m very musical at heart, so the songs scattered here and
there were beautiful additions to an already addicting book. Also the
references to our modern day with things like Apple and Twitter (there was also
Harry Potter mentioned so props to the author for that) made it so much more
interesting combined with the ancient mythology. Dionysus in particular should
not be given access to the internet when he uses it to find new wine recipes,
then get too drunk to remember how he’s supposed to be helping!

Silent Echo is a
hauntingly beautiful story where old and new collide creating a rollercoaster
you simply have to go on.

Favourite Quotes:

“There is no such
thing as a perfect world – or a perfect anything –”

Zeus let out a gruff “ahem.”

“Well,
perhaps excepting you, Zeus.”

“Opening her MacBook,
the Goddess couldn’t help but smile when she remembered first suggesting to Zeus
that they get Wi-Fi at Mount Olympus. The assembled deities had looked at her
like she was trying to stage some kind of technological coup. She was persistent,
though, bringing her laptop with her one day and showing them all how easy it
was to navigate this thing called the Internet. Within weeks, her fellow
immortals had e-mail addresses and were setting up websites, birthing an entire
divine virtual underworld.”

“You’re that reason,
Portia. My reason. The reason I get out of my bed every morning. The reason I
didn’t give a shit about cochlear implants and exploratory surgery. The reason
I Google bird trivia and even venture into secondhand bookshops. It’s all for
you. Silent you, talking you, I don’t care. It’s like I told you that day all
those years ago – you are my forever.”

Disclaimer

I can guarantee that all of my reviews are honest, which includes the reviews I have written based on review copies I have received which are clearly specified. The fact that they are review copies has no impact on my thoughts and opinions stated in the review. I do not receive any form of monetary compensation for my reviews from authors/publishers.